Launching its manifesto for the 2015 General Election, the Scottish Green Party stated a membership of over 8,500.[6] According to accounts filed with the Electoral Commission for the year ending December 31, 2009, the party had an income of about £90,230 that year, an expenditure of £61,165 and a membership of 1,072.[7] On the 20th of September 2014 the Scottish Green Party posted to their Facebook page that they'd gained 1,200 members since the previous morning, the day after the Scottish Independence referendum vote.[8]

In the 2007 elections, the Party lost five seats in Holyrood. However, in the council elections, taking place under the new Single Transferable Vote voting system, they gained three Councillors on the City of Edinburgh Council and five Councillors on Glasgow City Council. On 11 May, the Greens signed an agreement[9] with the Scottish National Party, which meant that the Greens voted for Alex Salmond as First Minister and supported his initial Ministerial appointments. In return, the Nationalists backed a climate change bill as an early measure and promised to legislate against ship-to-ship oil transfers in the Firth of Forth. The SNP also agreed to nominate Patrick Harvie, one of the Green MSPs, to convene one of the Holyrood committees: Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change.

On 28 January 2009, the two Green MSPs were instrumental in the defeat of the Government's budget,[10] though a slightly amended version was passed easily the following week. On 31 May, Cllr Martin Ford, formerly a Liberal Democrat, joined the Scottish Green Party in protest against the plans by Donald Trump to develop on an important environmental site at Menie.[11] On 13 October 2009, he was joined by fellow former Liberal Democrat Cllr Debra Storr.[12] Both Councillors continued to serve on Aberdeenshire Council as members of the Democratic Independent group.[13] Councillor Debra Storr stood down at the 2012 Scottish local elections to concentrate on her professional career. Councillor Martin Ford was re-elected, this time standing as a Scottish Green Party candidate.

After the Scottish Government announced the referendum on Scottish independence, a campaign group called Yes Scotland was established to promote a vote for independence. Leading members of the Scottish Green Party actively supported and became involved with the campaign from its foundation, with Patrick Harvie among the members of Yes Scotland's Advisory Board.[14] In November 2013, Edinburgh councillor Maggie Chapman succeeded Martha Wardrop as the party's female co-convenor.[15] In December, former convenor Robin Harper said that he would "absolutely vote No" in the independence referendum and offered his backing to the Better Together campaign, putting himself at odds with official party policy and its present leadership. Going on to say that he would like to help the Better Together and that there was a "significant minority" of Greens who were opposed to independence.[16] Uniquely amongst the parties in the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Green Party is open about and comfortable with the differences of opinion in the party on the constitutional issue, with co-convenor Patrick Harvie pointing out that "even the very firm supporters of independence within the Greens tend to be more strongly motivated by other aspects of our political agenda..."[17]

According to the party's website, the Scottish Greens are committed to forming a sustainable society and are guided by four interconnected principles:

Ecology: Our environment is the basis upon which every society is formed. Whenever we damage our environment, we damage ourselves. Respect for our environment is therefore essential.

Equality: A society that is not socially and economically just cannot be sustainable. Only when released from immediate poverty can individuals be expected to take responsibility for wider issues. Our society must be founded on cooperation and respect. We campaign hard against discrimination on grounds of gender, race, sexuality, disability, age or religion.

Radical Democracy: Politics is too often conducted in a polarised, confrontational atmosphere and in a situation remote from those that it affects. We must develop decentralised, participative systems that encourage individuals to control the decisions that affect their own lives.

Peace and Nonviolence: Violence at all levels of human interaction must be rejected and succeeded by relations characterised by flexibility, respect and fairness.

The party claims that, taken together, these principles give the party a holistic view that is in common with all Green parties around the world.[19]

John Finnie[21] and John Wilson[22] are both party members but sit as independent MSPs, having joined the party since the 2011 election. Both were elected as SNP MSPs but left over the party's decision to reverse its policy of opposition to NATO membership.[23]

The party made its first major breakthroughs at council level in the 2007 local elections, electing 8 councillors. In the 2012 local elections this was increased to 14. However, in May 2015, one of the Glasgow Green Councillors stepped down, reducing the number to 13. Another stepped down in June of that year to focus on the 2016 Scottish general election. To date, no Scottish Green Party councillor has lost their seat.

Prior to the 2007 elections, the Party had only ever elected one councillor at local level: in May 1990, Roger (aka Rory) Winter, representing the Highland Green Party (Uainich na Gàidhealtachd), was elected in Nairn as Scotland's first Green regional councillor to the then Highland Regional Council. Cllr Winter broke away from the Greens in 1991 and continued his four-year term as an Independent Green Highlander.

^Cllr Ford was originally elected as a Scottish Liberal Democrats councillor but left the party following the controversy over Donald Trumps proposed Golf Course and resort. He was elected as a Scottish Green at the 2012 Scottish Local Elections.